Buriram were defeated by Chiang Rai in a penalty shoot-out in the Champions Cup after leading 2-0 . It was a disappointing end to a game Buriram controlled for most of the first-half. They took the lead in the 6th minute when Diogo found Edgar with a lovely ball over the top of the defence and the new boy volleyed powerfully into the net.
Chiang Rai were guilty of some dreadful tackles, two of which should have been punished with a straight red card. Buriram’s passing was incisive and their movement was causing their opponents plenty of problems.
Buriram increased their lead in the 36th minute when Diogo coolly finished off a lovely move. Chiang Rai were then reduced to ten men following a second yellow card. However, they got back into the game seconds before half-time when atrocious defending by Pansa allowed Sivakorn acres of space to drill low into the net.
Buriram could not reproduce their form of the first-half and they struggled to create clear-cut chances. Chiang Rai leveled things up in the 66th minute when Victor was allowed a free header from a corner.
Once again, this could have been avoided had there been a defender on the line at the far-post. It would have been a simple clearance and I find this tactic incomprehensible.
Three minutes from time, Buriram were reduced to ten men when after the referee used the VAR system, Diogo was adjudged to have elbowed a defender in the face. There was minimal contact and the player concerned should be ashamed and embarrassed with his theatrical performance. It wasn’t even an elbow and it’s pathetic to see players react in this way.
Neither side could produce a winner so the game went to penalties. It had been decided to use the new shoot-out system devised by UEFA. The old system had been proved to favour the side going first. The new one sees one side take a penalty then the other side takes two. Then the first side takes two and so on. Similar to tie-breaks in tennis.
After five penalties the scores were level so it was sudden death. Supachai, Edgar, Jakkaphan and Samson all missed before Tunez missed his second penalty to leave Chiang Rai 6-5 shoot-out victors.
What is puzzling is both sides only took nine penalties before the sequence began again. One player from either side did not take a penalty. Odd.
There were plenty of positives to take from the game, particularly in the first-half. Diogo and Edgar worked well together and both took their goals superbly. Midfield is still a problem but there is Yoo Jun-Soo to come in.